Touch screen having integrated nfc antenna

ABSTRACT

A touch screen ( 100 ) having integrated an NFC antenna ( 103 ). The NFC antenna ( 103 ) is arranged on the touch screen ( 100 ) and is connected to a mainboard having a control chip. The NFC antenna ( 103 ) is provided directly on the touch screen ( 100 ), thus combing a touch feature and the NFC antenna feature into one. This prevents the problem of signal quality deterioration and reception failure due to wearing of the NFC antenna and inaccurate alignment, while at the same time, facilitates the antenna in receiving and transmitting signals, thus ensuring smooth communication.

This application claims the priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201220145136.8, entitled “DISPLAY SCREEN”, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of People's Republic of China on Apr. 6, 2012; and Chinese Patent Application No. 201210232612.4, entitled “TOUCH SCREEN INTEGRATED WITH NFC ANTENNA”, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of People's Republic of China on Jul. 5, 2012, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of near field communication, and particularly, to a touch panel integrated with an NFC antenna.

BACKGROUND

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is an essential technology for the electronic products in the future and has a huge market. An antenna of a conventional NFC product is mainly provided on a side of a cell, or is attached on an inner side of a housing. In a general way, coils made of a wire are provided on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or on a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC), and then the PCB or the FPC with the coils is attached on the cell or on the housing. Main disadvantages are described as follows. Abrasion or misalignment is easy to occur at a wiring junction of the NFC antenna due to repeated disassembly and assembly of the cell and the housing, thereby resulting in deterioration of antenna signal quality and affecting the use of functions of the NFC product. In addition, since the antenna of the NFC product is generally located on the inner side of the housing, transmission of an NFC signal may be affected if the housing is made of a metallic material. Thus, sturdy metallic materials are excluded when selecting the material for the housing of the electronic product.

For example, a number of electronic products integrated with the NFC antenna and a Touch Screen have the above disadvantages. The touch screen, also known as “a touch-control screen” or “a touch-control panel”, is an inductive liquid crystal display device which may receive an input signal from, for example, a contactor. In operation, firstly the touch screen mounted in a front end of a display is touched by a finger or other objects, and then an input for selection information is positioned by a system based on a position of an icon or a menu touched by the finger. The touch screen includes a touch detection component and a touch screen controller. The touch detection component is mounted in front of the display, and is for detecting a touch position of a user and transmitting the touch position to the touch screen controller after receiving the touch position. The touch screen controller mainly functions to receive touch information from a touch point detection device, transform the touch information into a contact coordinate, and transmit the contact coordinate to a CPU, and the touch screen controller may further receive a command transmitted by the CPU and execute the command.

Since the NFC antenna is not reasonably arranged in the conventional electronic product integrated with the NFC antenna and the touch screen, abrasion or misalignment is easy to occur at the wiring junction of the NFC antenna, thereby resulting in deterioration of antenna signal quality and restricting selectable materials for the housing of the electronic product. Since the touch screen is integratable with the NFC antenna during the process of manufacturing the touch screen, it is necessary to design a new touch screen integrated with the NFC antenna to solve the above disadvantages.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, the disclosure intends to provide a touch panel integrated with an NFC antenna, which may prevent abrasion or misalignment at a wiring junction of the antenna and is advantageous to ensure the quality of an antenna signal. In addition, an electronic product having the touch panel described above transmits a signal from a touch surface, and thus a selection of a material for a housing is not limited by the NFC antenna.

To solve the above technical problems, a technical solution provided in the disclosure is as follows. A touch panel integrated with an NFC antenna is provided. The NFC antenna is provided on the touch panel and is connected to a mainboard with a control chip.

Preferably, the touch panel includes touch panel lens and a touch panel sensor. The touch panel lens and the touch panel sensor having a separated “Lens+TP sensor” structure or have an integrated one glass solution (OGS) structure; and the NFC antenna is provided on the touch panel lens, the NFC antenna is led to an output circuit of the touch panel via the touch panel sensor, or the NFC antenna is directly led to the output circuit of the touch panel.

Preferably, the NFC antenna is provided between the touch panel lens and the touch panel sensor and is located at borders.

Preferably, a Black Matrix is printed at borders of an inner surface of the touch panel lens to form a black and opaque border of the touch panel.

Preferably, the NFC antenna is provided at borders of an outer surface of the touch panel lens and is covered with an insulation protective film; or the NFC antenna is provided at borders of an outer surface of the touch panel sensor and is covered with an insulation protective film.

Preferably, the NFC antenna is led to the output circuit by being electrically connected to the touch panel sensor via a conductive material, or the NFC antenna is directly led to the output circuit.

Preferably, the NFC antenna is made from multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring.

Preferably, the NFC antenna is formed with a wiring by low resistivities materials including silver, copper and aluminum.

Preferably, the multiturn coils are wound to have an annular shape matching with an outline of a product.

Preferably, the multiturn coils are wound to have a rectangle shape or a circular shape.

Preferably, a side of the multiturn coils closer to an inner side of the touch panel is covered with a layer of transparent ferrite material.

As compared with conventional technologies, in the touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna provided in the present disclosure, the NFC antenna is directly provided on the touch panel, and functions of touch-control and the NFC antenna are integrated. Since the touch panel is an essential portion of nowaday electronic products, particularly, is essential to mobile phone products, and the touch panel is located on the outermost of the electronic product, it is advantageous for the antenna to receive and transmit signals. Since the touch panel itself is a component without needs of disassembly and assembly, the conventional problems of abrasion or misalignment at a wiring junction are avoided during the usage of the NFC antenna. Furthermore, a solution is provided for advantageously receiving an NFC signal from a touch surface of the touch panel, or for a case that the NFC signal must be received from the touch surface of the touch panel. In addition, a signal is transmitted at the touch surface in an electronic product having the touch panel described above, and thus the selection of materials for a housing is not limited by the NFC antenna.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a mounting position, on a TFT display screen, of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna provided in the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

In FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, related numerical references are described as follows:

-   -   100 represents a touch panel, 101 represents touch panel lens,         102 represents a Black Matrix layer, 103 represents an NFC         antenna, 105 represents an insulation protective film, and 106         represents a touch panel sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the basic idea of the present disclosure, an NFC antenna is provided at a border of a touch panel, and the NFC antenna is connected to a mainboard with a control chip.

To make technical solutions of the present disclosure better understood by those skilled in the art, the present disclosure is further described below in detail in conjunction with drawings and specific embodiments.

A First Embodiment

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. The touch panel (TP) 100 integrated with the NFC antenna is a multi-touch capacitive screen or a multi-touch resistive screen. As observed by a human eye in a downward direction, the TP 100 includes touch panel lens (TPLens) 101 and a touch panel sensor (TP sensor) 106. Specifically, the NFC antenna 103 is provided between the TPLens 101 and the TP sensor 106 and is located at borders. The NFC antenna 103 is electrically connected to the TP sensor 106, and then is led to an output circuit of the touch panel 100 via the NFC antenna 103. Alternatively, the NFC antenna may be directly led to the output circuit of the TP 100. In this embodiment, the TPLens 101 and the TP sensor 106 are two separated layers (a “Lens +TP sensor” structure). Or the two separated layers may be replaced with an integrated monolayer structure (an OGS structure), which is not detailed here.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a Black Matrix 102 is printed at borders of an inner surface of the TPLens 101 to form a black and opaque border of the touch panel. And then a wiring with a metallic material (such as silver, copper or aluminum), or with other low resistivities conductive materials (such as carbon), is provided in the black and opaque border of the touch panel, to form the NFC antenna 103 having multiturn coils. The NFC antenna 103 having the multiturn coils is electrically connected to the TP sensor 106 through a conductive silver paste (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) or through other conductive materials with low resistivities. The multiturn coils may be wound to have a rectangle shape or a circular shape, or may be wound to have other annular shapes matching with a contour of a display product. A layer of transparent ferrite material is attached (or covered) on the multiturn coils to enhance the magnetic induction intensity. This wiring approach may be implemented with existing devices, and no new investment is required.

In the embodiment, an antenna matching circuit (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) is provided, which is electrically connected to the NFC antenna 103. The antenna matching circuit includes a charge and discharge module and an impedance module connected to each other. The charge and discharge module includes capacitors connected in parallel or in series, and the impedance module includes resistors connected in parallel or in series. Therefore, a power matching of the NFC antenna 103 is achieved by setting the antenna matching circuit.

A Second Embodiment

FIG. 3 shows a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to another preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that, the NFC antenna 103 is provided on borders of an outer surface of the TPLens 101 (the Black Matrix layer 102 is not required to be printed and the conductive silver paste is not required), and the NFC antenna 103 is covered by an insulation protective film 105. Other structures are same as those in the first embodiment, which are not detailed here.

A Third Embodiment

FIG. 4 show a mounting structure of an NFC antenna in a touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to still another preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. The third embodiment differs from the second embodiment in that, the NFC antenna 103 is provided on borders of an outer surface of the TPLens 101 and is covered by an insulation protective film 105. Other structures are same as those in the first embodiment, which are not detailed here.

Since the NFC antenna is directly made on the touch panel according to the embodiments described above, the following significant advantages are caused.

(1) Since the touch panel is an essential portion of nowaday electronic products, particularly, is essential to mobile phone products, and the touch panel is located on the outermost of the electronic product, it is advantageous for the antenna to receive and transmit signals, and thus ensuring a smooth communication.

(2) Since the touch panel itself is a component without needs of disassembly and assembly, the conventional problems of abrasion or misalignment at a wiring junction are avoided during the usage of the NFC antenna.

(3) Furthermore, a solution is provided for advantageously receiving an NFC signal from a touch surface of the touch panel, or for a case that the NFC signal must be received from the touch surface of the touch panel.

(4) In addition, the signal is transmitted at the touch surface in an electronic product having the touch panel described above, and thus the selection of materials for a housing is not limited by the NFC antenna.

With the touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna provided in the disclosure, functions of a display screen and the NFC antenna are integrated together, thereby leading to better market competitiveness.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that, the above preferred embodiments should not be regarded as limits to the disclosure, and the scope of protection of the disclosure should be defined by the claims. Numerous variations and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the sprit and scope of the disclosure, and these variations and modifications should also be deemed as falling into the scope of protection of the disclosure. 

1. A touch panel integrated with an NFC antenna, wherein the NFC antenna is provided on the touch panel and the NFC antenna is connected to a mainboard with a control chip.
 2. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel comprises touch panel lens and a touch panel sensor, the touch panel lens and the touch panel sensor are separated structures and are not located on a same substrate, or the touch panel lens and the touch panel sensor is deposited on a same substrate as OGS structure; and wherein the NFC antenna is provided on the touch panel lens, the NFC antenna is led to an output circuit of the touch panel via the touch panel sensor, or the NFC antenna is directly led to the output circuit of the touch panel.
 3. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 2, wherein the NFC antenna is provided between the touch panel lens and the touch panel sensor and is located at borders.
 4. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 3, wherein a Black Matrix is deposited at borders of an inner surface of the touch panel lens to form a black and opaque border of the touch panel.
 5. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 2, wherein the NFC antenna is provided at borders of an outer surface of the touch panel lens and is covered by an insulation protective film; or the NFC antenna is provided at borders of an outer surface of the touch panel sensor and is covered with an insulation protective film.
 6. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 2, wherein the NFC antenna is led to the output circuit by being electrically connected to the touch panel sensor via a conductive material, or the NFC antenna is directly led to the output circuit.
 7. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 1, wherein the NFC antenna is made with multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring.
 8. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 7, wherein the multiturn coils are wound to have an annular shape matching with an outline of a product.
 9. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 7, wherein a side of the multiturn coils closer to an inner side of the touch panel is covered with a layer of transparent ferrite material.
 10. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 7, wherein the multiturn coils are wound to have a rectangle shape or a circular shape.
 11. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 7, wherein the NFC antenna is made from a wiring by low resistivity material comprising silver, copper, and aluminum.
 12. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 2, wherein the NFC antenna comprises multiturn coils formed with a conductive material wiring.
 13. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 3, wherein the NFC antenna is made from multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring.
 14. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 4, wherein the NFC antenna is made from multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring.
 15. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 5, wherein the NFC antenna is made from multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring.
 16. The touch panel integrated with the NFC antenna according to claim 6, wherein the NFC antenna is made from multiturn coils formed by a conductive material wiring. 